Albanian Alps

One of the main reasons for coming to Shkoder was to use it as a jumping off point for a daytrip to Theth, in the foothills of the Albanian Alps. We hadn't really done too much research about accessing the park. On Sunday we realised that taking a guided tour was the only realistic option available. The weather forecast for Monday was sunny and warm; Tuesday was looking cold and gloomy with some late rain. I jumped on the internet and tried to book a tour for Monday to make the most of the weather. Sunday 8pm was a touch too late to get a booking. No tours available. Only option left was gloomy Tuesday as we are heading to Croatia on Wednesday.
Cut to the chase and it's 9.15 Tuesday morning and Juli, our guide arrives to pick us up. To be honest, we are not much into guided tours, even though I'm a qualified guide! Ten minutes into the trip we had made a good connection with Juli and it began to feel like he was a travelling companion rather than a guide. As the day went on, our initial instincts were proven correct.
It's a narrow and windy road by the time you're about 40 minutes out of Shkoder. In fact, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe the road as treacherous. Juli told us that until not so long ago, much of the road was unsealed. A gravel road, with a precipitous drop over the edge and Albanian drivers added into the mix is probably something best avoided. The climb is so steep that the Ottomans never bothered to make the trip in order to convert the locals to Islam. As a result, it remained a Catholic enclave in a predominantly Islamic country.
We climbed to just on 1900 metres and looked out across the peaks, some of which still had a good smattering of snow. It was then a pretty quick descent into Theth village, which had been the domain of small plot Albanian farmers until they were recently replaced by an influx of small plot guest house owners.
Ten minutes outside of Theth, we parked at Nderlysaj and headed on the track to Blue Eye. It's about 40 minutes to Blue Eye if you don't stop; probably closer to 90 minutes with the mandatory sightseeing interruptions. The Blue Eye is basically a spring that makes it way into a waterfall. As the name suggests the water has a blue tinge. I suspect if you go swimming without a wet suit some of your body parts might also have a blue tinge. The walk is not too challenging, but you do need to watch your step on the loose gravel and rocks in a few places. There's great vistas along the way and the old farmhouse just near the Blue Eye is a great stop off point. Apparently an older Albanian gentleman lives on his own in the farmhouse and amongst other things, he keeps beehives. The large number of tourists has seemingly made him realise that his search for tranquility is a waste of time and he's in the process of converting the house into a B and B for the summer months. Given that the area is snowed in during winter, he'll still be able to have some solitude together with his bees and mule for a few months of the year.
There are a couple of small food places near the Blue Eye, but they weren't open when we visited.

We stopped for lunch at the restaurant near the car park from where our walk started. They served some very reasonably priced Albanian fare. I'm not sure why anyone would eat the western style offerings when the local stuff is so good! The tasty grilled peppers were the highlight of the meal.
We then made our back to Shkoder via the Theth village. The Catholic Church is really worth a visit, but you probably won't be able to get inside the building. Other than the church and some nice old stone cottages there's probably not a lot to see in Theth, unless you get off on looking at guest houses being constructed before your eyes.

For all of that, our big day out wasn't quite over. Just as we started to get near the really high pass, we lost most of our visibility due to fog. this didn't seem to bother the Albanian drivers travelling in the opposite direction. They were moving along at a more than fair clip, seemingly oblivious to the risks posed by zero visibility and a wet road with a one thousand metre drop off just to your left. Fortunately, Juli, took a more cautious approach and we made it to the other side of the mountain in one piece.